19 Real Estate Investors Share Their #1 Advice For Beginners

When you’re just starting out flipping or wholesaling houses, there’s a lot to learn. And getting educated can feel like an uphill battle… it’s easy to lose focus, especially when there are so many different approaches and ways to learn.

I’ve talked about how important it is to surround yourself with the right people. When it comes to getting started in real estate, who better to surround yourself with than the experts who are already succeeding?

I asked 19 successful house flippers and wholesalers to share with me the #1 piece of advice they’d give to a new investor… and their replies are absolutely packed with wisdom. Check it out!

Danny Johnson

Get your mind right. You will be amazed at what this does for you and your future. If you are walking around being pessimistic, negative, complaining, jealous, envious, you will for certain remain that way and nothing will change in your life… except for maybe proceeding down the spiral into more negativity.

Work on yourself. Read lots of books on self-improvement. Anything by Jim Rohn will change your life. If you improve yourself, everything will improve for you. Get clear on what you want in life. Write it down. Set your goals. Study those goals every single morning. Read Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning and do that every single day.

Know there are thousands of investors out there doing thousands of deals. The deals are there, you just have to work at getting them yourself. Don’t look at successful investors and become jealous or envious. Instead look at successful investors and let that be a lesson that it is possible to do what they do. They did, so you can too.

Successful people didn’t become successful overnight. Know it takes hard work and diligence. This answer probably seem like more than one thing, but it’s not. Improve yourself and the rest will fall into place.

Joe Fairless

Read lots of books and listen to podcasts on real estate investing. Then, here’s the kicker, reach out to the authors and guests whose businesses models align with something you want to do. Continue to educate yourself, then reach out to others in the field who are actively doing it. This will give you the foundation you need to get going in real estate investing. After that, just pick your path based on education and conversations and get going.

From being the youngest vice president of a New York City ad agency to creating a company that in 6 months controlled over $7,000,000 of property, Joe Fairless lives up to his Fearless Fairless nickname. He’s the host of the popular podcast, Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever show where he’s interviewed Barbara Corcoran and Robert Kiyosaki.

He currently controls over $21,000,000 in real estate and consults investors who want to raise money and buy apartment buildings. Go to www.joefairless.com to get your free real estate investing crash course!

Andrew Herrig

Pick ONE strategy and TAKE ACTION. Educate yourself just enough so that you can take the first step. Worry about the next step once you get there. Momentum is huge in this business, and the more action you take, the more things will start to happen. As Justin always says, fail forward fast!

Andrew Herrig lives in Dallas, TX along with his wife and daughter. He has been investing in the DFW market since 2013 when he bought his first rental property. Andrew is primarily focused on his wholesaling business, but also flips and has a growing portfolio of rental properties. He has done 11 deals in the past two years, and is looking forward to scaling his business in 2016 and beyond! Check out his website at http://www.andrewbuyshousesdfw.com. Andrew is a member of the House Flipping Formula coaching program.

Andy McFarland

1. Get clear about what you want to accomplish. 2. Find someone who has done what you want to do and copy their methods. 3. Take action every day towards your goal. What one man can do another can do.

Andy McFarland is a self-made real estate entrepreneur who started with nothing and currently makes seven figures a year in his real estate business.

After getting fired from his last W-2 job in 2004, Andy went into real estate full time and has never looked back. Andy currently focuses on wholesaling properties in three different states; Utah, New Mexico, and Indiana. In 2015 alone, Andy did over 150 wholesale deals. You can follow Andy on his real estate journey by going to his website: www.iloverealestatestories.com or on his YouTube channel by searching for I Love Real Estate Stories. Andy is a coach along with Justin Williams in the House Flipping Formula and 7 Figure Flipping programs.

Holly McKhann

My number one piece of advice is to start with great education from books and courses, and then move on to a mentor who can help you get started. A mentor can show you the REALITIES of real estate investing in your own local area. Education in books and classes can only take you so far. Seeking out a mentor and/or mastermind group will skyrocket your success.

You can either offer to work for a mentor for free in exchange for the opportunity to shadow him or her, or you can pay a mentor through an official education company. Undoubtedly you will come up with many questions as you start investing in real estate, and you will have so much more success and confidence if you have a mentor to turn to with those questions. Whatever challenges you come across, someone else has already faced and conquered. So why not learn from someone who has already been there and done that? Save yourself some pain and money by asking those who’ve succeeded at this already how they did it and how they would advise you to proceed.

Holly McKhann is a full-time real estate investor and works with her husband Scott, having done over 200 fix and flips together in Southern California over the past seven years. Holly began her career as a CPA, working for Ernst & Young. She also earned an MBA in finance. Scott is a registered civil engineer with a decade of experience at public home builders. Their blend of expertise and experience has attracted multiple investors, allowing them to expand their business. You can check out everything they’re up to at HouseFlipMasters.com!

Holly and Scott love working from home and enjoying their freedom as entrepreneurs. They have been married 24 years and have 4 children ages 13, 15, 18 and 21. They live in Dana Point, CA and flip homes all throughout Southern California. Holly is a member of the House Flipping Formula coaching program.

Cory Boatright

Start wholesaling FIRST. Then move to fix-and-flip or whatever else you want to do. Wholesaling is the easiest way to make money fast.

Cory Boatright is a social connector who believes in servant leadership. He’s a serial entrepreneur and founder of Real Estate Investing Profits and Phenomenal Results Coaching. Between himself, his teams, and his students all over the world, he’s bought and sold over 75 million dollars in real estate by completing over 1000 real estate transactions.

Today he coaches high achieving entrepreneurs and their teams to getting phenomenal results in their businesses. Fast Company Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and even Harvard University are among a few leading organizations that view him as a thought leader and visionary. Cory’s biggest success was beating Thyroid Cancer. Today he’s using the life lessons in what he learned to inspire, impact and serve others at The GrafefulProject.

William Morgan

Make success your obsession. I firmly believe you need to experience an obsession phase to break through all the obstacles you’ll face. There are so many moving parts to this business. There is a tremendous amount to learn. You’ll be dedicating a lot of your “free” time. You have to want it. And when the right deal comes, pull the trigger.

William has been investing in RE since 2003 and has performed 11 rehabs, 5 wholesales, and 2 buy and hold deals. He lives and invests on the Central Coast of California, in San Luis Obispo County and the surrounding areas, where home prices range between $400k to 600k or more. Properties vary widely from upscale coastal areas, horse county, wine country and rural. His primary focus is rehabs. Check out his site, http://www.williambuyshouses.com/. William is a member of the House Flipping Formula coaching program.

Sharon Vornholt

Keep your day job while you build your real estate business. In most cases you’ll need W-2 income for purchasing those first properties if you plan to build a rehabbing business. You’ll also need money for marketing. Free strategies will only take you so far. When you invest money in marketing right from the beginning, you’ll will grow your business much faster.

Sharon Vornholt is the owner of Innovative Property Solutions in Louisville, KY. She has been investing in real estate since 1998 and has been a full time wholesaler since 2008.

Doug and Andrea Van Soest

Find someone you know who is successful in the business, study them, ask them questions, and then do what they do.

Doug is a former appraiser and his wife Andrea is an interior designer and licensed realtor. They began flipping houses in the Inland Empire area of Southern California in late 2008. They quickly transitioned to flipping houses full-time and have been fix-n-flipping, wholesaling, and buying rentals all over Southern California ever since. They are currently doing about 5-6 deals per month and just started a podcast called Spouses Flipping Houses.

Kristi Cirtwill

Be persistent and consistent, and always make decisions based on numbers not emotions!

Kristi Cirtwill is an active real estate investor who has purchased over 125 properties in the southern California area to flip and hold since 2008. She lives in Cerritos and hosts food nights and plays music in her spare time. To connect with Kristi and check out some of the incredible rehabs she’s done, head over to Cirtwill Investments Inc! Kristi is a member of the House Flipping Formula coaching program.

Randy Lawrence

Master the one area or element of real estate investing that’s congruent with who you are and lines up with your WHY. Spend time mastering it while you’re enjoying what you’re doing!

Randy Lawrence is an indomitable entrepreneur with over 24 years of experience and four successful real estate investment companies. He is also a pastor and founder of multiple life changing ministries and in the last 15 years has impacted over 40,000 people. He has been featured in the St. Petersburg Times, Tampa Tribune, and seen on CBN, NBC and CTN as the “Transformation Expert” focused on transforming lives. Randy is also the host of the Real Estate Preacher Podcast.

Alex Bejenaru

Education, education, and more education. This industry changes constantly and techniques to find properties now are different than they were 9 months ago. Making sure you stay sharp and always keep a learning attitude is key for success. Surround yourself with other investors who you can bounce ideas and problems off of. You never know what you don’t know!

Alex Bejenaru is a lifelong Southern California resident living in Yorba Linda, CA, with his wife and 2 kids. He started his flipping business in February 2014 as Premier Pacific Properties, LLC (webuysocalhomes.com), and in 2015, he quit his full time gig as a residential loan officer to be a flipper full time. In 2014 he bought 2 flips and is finishing up 2015 with an additional 9 flips completed and 2 properties wholesaled.

RJ Pepino

Find a local mentor.

RJ is an experienced real estate investor who has closed over 150 real estate transactions and co-founder of Columbus Turnkey Houses. He is an expert in the Columbus market. He has had formal training in deal structuring, creative financing, and other residential real estate areas. He received his BA in Marketing Management from Youngstown State University in 2005. RJ attended Youngstown State University on a full ride tennis scholarship where he played #1 Singles and Doubles all 4 years. His hobbies include tennis, photography, Cross-fit workouts, and guitar.

Jack Bosch

The best time to get started is always yesterday. However, there are times where one technique works better than others and that gets compounded by different trends in different areas. So focus on learning what works BEST TODAY in your market and then go learn from those who have walked before you. If that means you have to find an “old timer” who has already been in real estate for 20-30 years and who charges you $5K or $10K or 50% of the first 3 deals, then still sign up, because it’s like paying to learn stock market investing from Warren Buffett. There are a lot of people who would pay MILLIONS to do that, yet so many people are afraid of paying $10K to learn from someone who will in his lifetime forget more about real estate than they will ever learn.

Jack Bosch is one of the Country’s foremost experts in Tax Delinquent Property Investing and more recently an educator in Real Estate Investing. Since 2002, Jack has been buying and selling mainly unimproved land and has completed more than 3,203 land deals. Learn more at JackBosch.com.

Tom Bujnowski

Best advice is to focus on marketing. Bring more leads in. You can’t buy houses if you don’t prospect. Focus on direct response marketing.

Tom has been investing in real estate for 13 years. A former Catholic priest, he is married with 2 teenage sons and flips houses in the Chicagoland area. Tom is a member of the House Flipping Formula coaching program.

Gabriel Garcia

My number one piece of advice would be to get a mentor, who’s “been there, done that” with what you’re trying to do, and have them show you the ropes.

Gabriel lives in Miramar, FL, and invests in Miami Dade, Broward, and West Palm Beach counties. He’s been investing since 2012, and is currently focused on rehabs and wholesales. He finished off 2015 with about 50 completed transactions and is aiming to double that in 2016. Check out Gabriel’s website, FloridaCashHomeBuyers.com, or connect with him directly on Facebook!

Dave Payerchin

Learn the basics first. Learn what makes a good deal. Learn how to make money on a property both by flipping and buy and hold. Learn about R.O.I. and surround yourself with people who are currently successful. Add as much value as you possibly can without asking for anything in return except for the opportunity to learn and grow. Smile, keep your energy up and your attitude positive.

Dave Payerchin is co-founding partner of Columbus Turnkey Houses and a Licensed Realtor with Shoreway Realty group in Ohio. His specialties are networking, raising capital, system automation, and developing/maintaining relationships. Dave has formal training in several facets of real estate investing and has been successfully closing real estate transactions in several states (including Ohio) since 2005. Prior to joining Columbus Turn Key Houses Dave worked as a real estate trainer and professional speaker. His hobbies include rooting for the Cleveland Browns & Cavs, rooting for The Ohio State Buckeyes, spending time with his parents and his 7 nieces and nephews.

Shawn Wolfswinkel

Education, be patient, and work harder than anyone else in your market. I purchased my first property 15 years ago when I was just 19 years old. I missed out on the college lifestyle because I was building my real estate business during college. For 10 years it was a roller coaster of ups and downs but looking back today I can see the steps I needed to learn before I could grow my business to the next level. I learn something new every day and still today I buy educational products and join mastermind groups to further my education. You can never stop learning and applying.

Shawn Wolfswinkel has 15 years of experience in Real Estate. He purchased his first investment property at the age of 19. Since then he has bought and sold over 700 properties. He has continued his training every year, attending numerous seminars and educational functions to strengthen his expertise in Real Estate. He has been educated on wholesaling property, pre-foreclosures, rehabilitation and contracting, leasing and management, owner financing, Commercial real estate, financing, contracts, and state laws. He currently owns 28 personal rental properties, buys and sells 100 homes a year through his Turnkey Company, TexasTurnkeyProperties.com, and manages 700 properties through his Management companies, Real Property Management Preferred located in Houston, TX and Real Property Management Albuquerque located in Albuquerque, NM.

Delon Hall

Find someone that has something you want and offer them something that they really need (real estate related, of course). The hard part is sometimes they aren’t too sure what they really need, but it’s your job to find it, because where there is a need there is demand. Surround yourself with successful and driven people and find out what they need. You offer them what they need at a far better price and quality and get knowledge and experience in return, thus forcing yourself to not only get started on doing something now but gaining experience and relationships that you can soon leverage for more opportunities in the future.

Delon Hall is a fix-and-flipper in Atlanta, who in 2016 will attempt to take on Chicago and Orlando as well. A wholesaler since 2008, Delon is also a buy and hold investor with 3 properties in NW Indiana, 2 in Chicago, and a package deal in the works in SW Atlanta. He is also a licensed agent with a team of 2 staff and 3 agents. Delon is a member of the House Flipping Formula coaching program.

Ready to ramp up your house flipping business?

We’ll hand you the shortcuts and exact strategies that are working in today’s market. Submit an application for mentoring today and let’s talk!